Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) review

This is one of those films that some of you might look at and think, “Is he seriously reviewing this one?”. Well, to that, I’d say “Yes, yes I am!” and the reason why I went to go see this one is quite simple, really; like many kids of my generation, the franchise that this film is a part of was a big part of my childhood. I’m, of course, referring to the highly successful children’s TV series Dora the Explorer. Ever since it first debuted on Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr. programming block in 2000, Dora the Explorer has gone on to become one of the network’s most popular shows geared towards younger children. It even stands as the longest-running Nick Jr. series of all-time with around 178 episodes produced over eight seasons. In other words, the adventures of a young Latina girl named Dora and her best friend, a talking monkey named Boots, have clearly made a considerable impact on the generations of kids who have grown up with them while also helping them learn some rudimentary Spanish along the way. And now, nearly two decades after her initial debut, Nick Jr.’s most famous heroine makes her live-action debut (not counting that fake trailer produced by CollegeHumor) in Dora and the Lost City of Gold. However, instead of just being a direct adaptation of the TV series, this film jumps ahead in time to when Dora is a teenager, with Isabela Moner taking on the title role. Meanwhile, directorial duties go to James Bobin while the script was co-written by Nicholas Stoller, who had previously collaborated with Bobin on Disney’s recent Muppets films. And while this is very much one of those films whose very existence has been utterly derided by most of the film fan community, it surprisingly manages to be a genuinely earnest and heartfelt adaptation of its source material.

For practically her whole life, Dora (Isabela Moner) has lived in the jungle with her explorer parents Cole (Michael Pena) and Elena (Eva Longoria), where she goes on all sorts of adventures with her best friend Boots the Monkey (voiced by Danny Trejo) while her parents search for the mythical Inca city of Parapata. They eventually manage to pinpoint the city’s location, but while Dora fully expects to join them on their adventure, they ultimately end up sending her to school in America so that she can start interacting with other kids her age. But while her trip to America does allow her to reunite with her cousin Diego (Jeff Wahlberg), Dora quickly discovers that high school is a much different world compared to the jungle. However, during a field trip to a local museum, Dora ends up getting cornered by a group of mercenaries, who proceed to kidnap her, Diego, geek Randy (Nicholas Coombe), and know-it-all Sammy (Madeleine Madden) and fly them all to Peru. Once there, Dora and company end up getting rescued by a man named Alejandro (Eugenio Derbez), who tells them that he’s a friend of Dora’s parents and that they went missing several weeks ago, with the mercenaries now on the hunt for them so that they can reach Parapata and steal its treasures. And so, Dora rallies Diego and their new friends to join her on her quest to find her parents and, in turn, the city of Parapata before the mercenaries do.

One of the most surprising aspects of Dora and the Lost City of Gold is how it manages to be very faithful to its source material. While the film doesn’t maintain the more fantastical atmosphere of the original series since it’s immediately established that the adventures Dora used to go on as a kid were the result of her imagination, it’s still full of various nods and Easter Eggs ranging from notable cameos to an intro that recreates the show’s opening title sequence. However, there are a few times where the film is rather inconsistent when it comes to adapting certain elements of the series, namely via its handling of Dora’s notorious nemesis Swiper the Fox (voiced by Benicio Del Toro). Unlike the other animal characters from the series (even Boots, who only speaks in one scene that’s fully implied to be another case where Dora’s imagining things), Swiper is portrayed as being real and working with the mercenaries, with only one major instance where other characters comment on this weird phenomenon of a talking fox. Ultimately, though, these occasional logic gaps are a minimal issue at best, because while the film does have a generally straight-forward adventure plot, it also boasts a pleasantly light-hearted atmosphere. While there are several instances where the film satirizes some of the more eccentric aspects of the show (namely, Dora’s tendency to talk directly to the camera whenever she’s talking to viewers), it never does so in a mean-spirited manner. Plus, as one might probably expect from a film that’s based on a series from Nick Jr., it also promotes some nice messages for kids, including the value of teamwork and confidently embracing one’s unique quirks.

But when it comes to the biggest highlight of the film, that honor goes to its lead actress, Isabela Moner. Simply put, Dora is one of those roles where whoever’s cast in it must truly commit to a character who talks directly to the camera, hangs out with animals more than she does with humans, and consistently maintains an unabashedly chipper persona no matter the situation. Sure enough, that is exactly what Moner does, perfectly maintaining Dora’s innately endearing persona that’s very much the heart of the film. As for Dora’s friends who get dragged along on her adventure, their character arcs are a lot simpler by comparison, from know-it-all Sammy gradually shedding her uptight persona to Diego rekindling his relationship with his cousin, who he hasn’t seen in years. Still, for what it’s worth, the film impressively manages to balance their roles in the plot incredibly well. Obviously, Dora’s still the main protagonist at the end of the day, but there’s never a point where any of the others feel like extraneous characters and the camaraderie amongst them is genuinely solid. After that, there’s plenty of reliable support from their adult co-stars, namely Eugenio Derbez as their quirky ally Alejandro and Michael Pena and Eva Longoria as Dora’s parents, whose roles in the film have been expanded upon considerably compared to the show. But if there’s one anomaly in this cast it’s, ironically, Swiper. Despite being one of the most prominent characters from the series, Swiper’s role in the film is quite limited, which then makes you wonder why they even brought in Benicio Del Toro for what ends up being a generally thankless role instead of Swiper’s usual voice actor Marc Weiner.

It goes without saying that this was one of those films that attracted tons of skepticism before its release. For most people, it seemed like an odd idea to take something like Dora the Explorer and do a live-action version of it where the character is now a teenager, especially after the trailers came out and gave off the impression that Dora would be turned into the next Lara Croft. I mean, to put this all into perspective, it was long-rumored that none other than Michael Bay was going to produce this before he confirmed that the initial report of his involvement wasn’t true. Ultimately, though, Dora and the Lost City of Gold turns out to be a solid family film. Now don’t get me wrong, even someone like me knows that this is the kind of film that really shouldn’t work at all, and yet, the film manages to avoid such a fate thanks to its uncynical tone and its surprisingly faithful adherence to the original TV series. As such, it’s very much a ‘win-win’ scenario for all involved. For director James Bobin, it’s a nice little bit of career resurgence for him after his last film, 2016’s Alice Through the Looking Glass, was both a critical and commercial disappointment. For co-writer Nicholas Stoller, this film serves as further proof that while he’s primarily known for directing raunchy R-rated comedies, he’s also managed to amass a respectable resume when it comes to writing family films thanks to the likes of this, Bobin’s Muppets films, and Captain Underpants. And for star Isabela Moner, this is easily the breakout performance of her career thanks to her pitch-perfect portrayal of the title character. Because of all this, the live-action Dora the Explorer film defies all expectations to deliver a good-natured family flick that effectively appeals to not only its target audience of young kids but also the generation that helped make Dora the pop-cultural phenomenon that she still is today.

Rating: 4/5